Friday, September 14, 2012

2 New Habits you need to establish….

Two of the first things I do in the morning are drink 16 oz of water (I add lemon juice) and eat breakfast. I usually drink the Berry Shake while I’m doing my morning devotion. (If you’ve been looking for a good one, two of my faves are Jesus Calling by Sarah Young & Hope for Each Day by Billy Graham.) I love the shakes because they’re super quick & easy, delicious, have 6 grams of fiber, and are a 1:1 ratio of carbs to protein, which makes them the perfect breakfast!

Here’s the deal. Your body has been shut down all night while you were sleeping….no food and no water for the last 8 or so hours. That means when you wake up you are dehydrated and your metabolism isn’t going yet. Did you know you only have a 30 minute window after you wake up to eat breakfast and kick start your metabolism??

I know a lot of people that say they aren’t hungry or thirsty in the mornings, but this is something your body NEEDS, so I really encourage you to try to make it a habit. Eventually you’ll change that tune and start to crave water and something to eat when you wake up.

So here are the new habits.

1. Drink at least 16 oz of water to rehydrate yourself, get everything moving, and help your body absorb nutrients. I like to add the lemon because it is alkalizing in nature (we tend to think of it as acidic because it’s citrus and sour, but it actually has an alkalizing effect on our body, which is more important that the pH in its base state), which can have a lot of benefits for your body. If you are a big coffee drinker, you need to double up on water because caffeine actually dehydrates you too.

Here are some of the benefits of lemon water according to this article:

Lemons are antiseptic

Lemon water has excellent digestive properties and can ease heartburn, bloating and other digestion problems

Lemon water cleanses and stimulates the liver and kidneys

Lemon juice contains calcium, magnesium and potassium

Lemon juice has been known to relieve asthma

Lemon water (hot) offers relief from cold and flu symptoms while providing some much needed Vitamin C

Lemon juice is a great skin cleanser

2. Eat a healthy, balanced breakfast that has as close of a protein to carb ratio as possible. (Before I discovered the shakes I ate a 4-6 egg whites & steel cut oats every morning.)

9 comments:

This was an awesome post! I typically like to have a small breakfast upon wake up with 2 scrambled eggs and 1/4 cup oatmeal, followed by a protein shake about 2 hours later. I love the idea of morning devotions and I am definitely going to check out those books! Thanks :)

i'm not great at eating a large breakfast. i have noticed that i give myself headaches if i don't eat enough early in the day. and those jokers linger. not cool. i did have a question.....if you work out in the morning...do you eat before working out or how do you do that? i know generally before work, etc most of us don't have time to let it "digest" before we exercise.

Thanks for your post! I agree with you 100%! I have the hardest time drinking water though. I am a physical therapist and talk ALL DAY LONG. This leaves me crazy dehydrated and no time to squeeze in water. I started carrying my water bottle around clinic and that has helped. But, I found I really dont like the taste (or lack of) of water. Any tips for making water taste better?

Just found your pretty blog from Eat Yourself Skinny and I'm so happy I did! Your blog is adorable :) Such a great post too, I always try to have a good breakfast in the morning, will have to try one of those shakes, a berry smoothie in the morning sounds so good!